In an attempt to make the perfect macarons for a recent Frozen Birthday Cake I made for our Granddaughter, I turned to Thomas Keller’s book “Bouchon Bakery,” followed the recipe from the ingredients to the instructions, and they came out perfect. I also followed the advice to use a convection oven to bake, and freeze the finished macarons before serving. I admit this will be my go-to macaron recipe from now on. This recipe is quite easy to make but I do recommend reading through the instructions before beginning to become familiar with making meringues and sugar syrups. This recipe uses an Italian meringue which is a little trickier to make than the French version, but the results are outstanding. I used the exact recipe from Bouchon Bakery, including the metric weights using a food scare. The American measurements from Bouchon Bakery are included, but I have not tried these measurements myself. Because these macarons are vanilla flavored I also filled them with a vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream. Alas I neglected to get a more perfect photo of the macarons, these are actually the leftover macarons from the cake after the Birthday party. There are two methods for making macarons, either using French meringue or Italian meringue. Both methods used the same ingredients but it’s all about how the meringue is prepared. French meringue starts with raw egg whites and granulated sugar that are whipped to stiff peaks, then the dry ingredients (ground almonds and powdered sugar) are folded into the whipped mixture. This results in a batter that is easy with a light and delicate batter. Italian meringue starts with raw egg whites that are whipped to soft peaks before a boiled sugar syrup is poured into the egg whites and then whipped to stiff peaks. This method essentially cooks the egg whites as they are being whipped into a glossy meringue. The meringue is then folded into an almond mixture resulting in a batter that is stable and easy to use.